Tag Archives: george c. marshall

Senate Confirms Army Chief of Chaplains

In March the Senate confirmed Chaplain (COL) Paul Hurley for the position of Army Chief of Chaplains.

Hurley was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1995. He will replace Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Donald Rutherford, who plans to retire.

Chaplain Hurley will skip BG and be promoted to Major General.  He recently spoke at the Fort Hood prayer breakfast, in which he quoted General George C. Marshall:

Hurley continued with a quote from former General of the Army George C. Marshall, commenting on the importance of the spirit.

“The Soldier’s heart, the Soldier’s spirit, the Soldier’s soul, are everything. Unless the Soldier’s soul sustains him, he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his commander and his country in the end,” quoted Hurley.

Also at BostonCatholic.org.  Read more

The US Military and Religious Rights in WWII

An article from the Murray Ledger & Times, a local Kentucky paper, has an interesting perspective on the rise of the importance of religion in the military in the 1940s.  Dr. G. Kurt Piehler from the University of Tennessee spoke at Murray State University’s scholarship banquet:

Piehler spoke concerning “The Religious Life of the G.I. during World War II.” Primarily focusing on the introduction of an expanded chaplain service to meet the religious needs of American military service men and women…

“We never followed religion as seriously as we did in World War II,” Piehler said, pointing out the increase in religious focus Read more